Hearst operations in San Antonio were transferred to the Express-News and some Light employees were hired onto the Express-News staff. So journalists who had just days before been heated competitors, were now forced to integrate and get along.

Twenty-five years later, more than a few of those Light/Express-News employees — once part of that rivalry and sometime testy integration — still bust their backs (but never deadline) to bring San Antonio its news.

Part of that mashing together of brands and news philosophies was a photo archive that had doubled in size.

In looking at those archive photos we have discovered a visual history of San Antonio.

San Antonio Light cover

San Antonio Light cover

From early labor struggles of the 1930s in downtown and visits from Babe Ruth and presidents, to the very first animals at the San Antonio Zoo and San Antonio's first recorded big snowfall in 1949, you will be enthralled with these photos.

Stay turned onto mySA.com throughout the year as we search and bring you more photos, and memories, from the San Antonio Light archives.